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Gamer for Life: Alpha World, Book 1

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The Shadow of What Was Lost: The Licanius Trilogy, Book 1

It has been 20 years since the end of the war. The dictatorial Augurs - once thought of almost as gods - were overthrown and wiped out during the conflict, their much-feared powers mysteriously failing them. Those who had ruled under them, men and women with a lesser ability known as the Gift, avoided the Augurs' fate only by submitting themselves to the rebellion's Four Tenets.

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Best Served Cold

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Shogun: The Epic Novel of Japan

A bold English adventurer; an invincible Japanese warlord; a beautiful woman torn between two ways of life, two ways of love - all brought together in an extraordinary saga of a time and a place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust, and the struggle for power.

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The Physics of the Dead: A Supernatural Mystery Novel

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Dark Matter

January 1937. Jack Miller has just about run out of options. His shoes have worn through, he can't afford to heat his rented room in Tooting, and he longs to use his training as an specialist wireless operator instead of working in his dead-end job. When he is given the chance to join an arctic expedition, as communications expert, by a group of elite Oxbridge graduates, he brushes off his apprehensions and convinces himself to join them.

Promise of Blood: The Powder Mage Trilogy, Book 1

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There are parallels to be made in this book to "The Lies of Locke Lamora". Less funny and slightly more political, the scene is very similar and the main characters also very similar.

This was right up my avenue as far as books are concerned and I was not disappointed at all. I don't remember the prose being particularly stand out but it was all about the characters and the development was good. Enough back story to have a good sense of purpose for the two main characters, not so much that the books strays off course.

There is always something endearing about the lovable thief in any book and this one was no exception. Some very good peripheral characters completed a well rounded, good romp of a book.

Never a big fan of the author narrating but I though Skovren did an excellent job. The most disappointing thing was to find that there was not a sequel.

First the good points. Some of the twists and turns of the plot are original; the supporting cast it pretty well drawn, particularly Sadie and Nettles; the narration is generally pretty good, which is a pleasant surprise given that it was narrated by the author.

The bad points: The voices aren't very good. They are unconvincing and seem have come with a cheesy American accent, which doesn't exist when reading the non-dialogue parts.

A big part of the plot is the usual fantasy affair of someone ordinary finding they have world class skills in something. In this case, it was two people. The Hope character seems to have become an unbeatable swords-woman after only 8 years training in the evening so her skills are less than convincing.

Of the two main characters (Hope and Red), Red is ok, Hope is irritating and their relationship is sufficiently badly written to make me cringe.

The plot generally roles along at a reasonable pace apart from the chase-the-baddy section at the end which gets dragged out for far too long.

Loved this Audio book. Superb dialogue and storyline. I can't wait for the sequel. When I first heard the narration I was a bit dubious, not a big fan of American narration but Jon Skovron is excellent bringing a real depth to the narration of his own book. More please!